A Human's Tail: Freshman Year
by harrison31605
Summary: Mack has a complicated home life, and to make things better, she's also starting high school. Drama was always a given, but how much can she take when she meets someone new, discovers something about someone she thought she knew, and is given the chance to get away from her troubling home, at a huge cost, of course. Will she choose to be normal, or accept her inescapable fate?
1. Prologue

Characters:

Mack - blonde hair, white female with amber eyes

Niko - flowing blonde hair, white male, and bright green eyes

Extra Characters:

Mack's Dad and brother

Mack's Stepmom and stepbrother

Mack's Mother and sister

Mack's Stepfather

Mack's Class Schedule

1st Hour:

Career Readiness

2nd Hour:

Environmental Science

3rd Hour:

NJROTC (Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps)

4th Hour:

English 1

5th Hour:

Geometry

6th Hour:

World Geography

7th Hour:

IBCA (Introduction to Business Computer Application)

8th Hour:

Art

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 **Yes, I know it's a lot to keep track of, but I promise, it'll become easier as you keep going, trust me.**


	2. Chapter 1

**So, this is pretty simple at first, but it gets complicated quickly. Mack has parents who divorced when she was young and remarried about a year before these events. She has an older brother, younger sister, and younger stepbrother. Her mother and stepfather hit her on almost a daily basis and her father doesn't have any clear evidence, so he can't fully support anything. As if her life wasn't complicated enough, she's starting high school as well. One day, she gets a mysterious message. Her curiosity gets the best of her and she meets a tenth grader named Niko. She almost immediately notices he different than everyone else, but she can't figure out why... I hope you enjoy.**

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Mack hopped off the bus and headed into the high school for the first time. She walked into a vast area with concrete flooring and wooden and plastic tables scattered along the edge of the pavilion. A large building above them provided cover. The library, she remembered from Prep Day a couple weeks ago.

She looked around until she found her friends and ran over. "So, what do we do?" She asked, unsure as to why people were just gathering. She saw a couple teens go into the building. "Do we go to class?"

"No one seems to be in any rush." Taylor said, pushing her long braids over her shoulder.

"Maybe we should just try to go to class." Averie suggested. A gust of cool wind came through the Commons, blowing Averie's curly blonde hair into her glasses.

The three of them walked into the empty hall and went up the first flight of stairs, but were soon stopped by a teacher.

"What are you doing up here?" She asked sharply.

Mack blanked for a moment. "Going to class." She said slowly, confused. The teacher's gaze softened. "Freshmen?" she asked, almost sympathetically. They nodded.

"Everyone stays in the Commons Area or in the Cafetorium until the first bell, that's when you go to your first class." She explained. They understood and went back down to the Commons and found other friends while waiting for the bell.

There were some classes when she had some of the same people from her previous class, while other classes, she barely knew anyone.

Art class came. The subject she'd been waiting for all day. She drew in her sketchbook while listening to her playlist on her phone. Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

She pulled it out and saw an unknown number had sent a text. _Hi, Mack. I know this may seem strange, but I think you should know some things that you've been wondering. The truth. About your parents. Your brother. You. I understand that you're skeptical and untrusting, but if you want to know the truth, why you're so different, then meet me by the front office when the bell rings, I'm wearing khaki pants and a gray ROTC hoodie._ It was a lot to take in at once. So she replied back.

 _How can I trust you?_ She sent it and waited. The reply came soon.

 _You just have to take a chance. I promise you it won't be a waste of your time._ The bell rang. The threw her stuff into her bag and raced out of the room. She trotted down the hall as teens began spilling out of the classes, blocking her path.

She pushed her way through and burst through the doors, a fresh breeze blowing in. She walked swiftly along the sidewalk and was soon standing at the front of the school in front of the front office.

She looked around and immediately spotted the suspect. Khaki pants, check. ROTC hoodie, check. He had his phone to his ear, talking to someone on the other end.

"Yeah, she should be here soon. Okay, yeah, yes sir. Okay see you then." He hung up and put his phone in his pocket. He turned around and was shocked to see Mack standing there, waiting. A look of suspicion painted plainly on her face.

"Um, hi, I'm Nicolas, but everyone just calls me Niko." He held out his hand and she reluctantly shook it. "I'm in two of your other classes, IBCA and Art."

It hit her like lightning. She had seen him before. Flowing blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a smile that make her stomach sprout butterflies.

"Hi, um, why didn't you just talk to me in class?"

His gaze darkened. "The answers you want, you may not want to have spread." She didn't see any signs of mischief or deceit in his gaze. "Is this some kind of blackmail?"

He laughed a little. "No, I just have somethings that I thought you might want to know. Come. We don't want to miss our bus."

"And how did you come by this information?" Mack asked as they walked toward the bus lane.

"I know some people. People that you might meet later, but right now, you need to know that everything you thought was real is a lie." He said as he walked up the steps to their bus. They walked to the very back and sat in the larger seat, setting their backpacks in the seat across from them.

"Evaluate please." Mack said.

"Your home life. I know it's difficult, I see it everyday at the bus stop and on the bus. The music you listen to tells me everything. Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin on your mom's weeks and NF and Eminem on your dad's weeks." Mack listened carefully. "My guess is that you are in need of some friends. I see you hanging around at least five people at a time at school, but no one at home."

"Okay, stalker, since we're talking about this. None of my friends live in my neighborhood or they live just out of reach and so what if I change my music every week, what's that got to do with anything?" She folded her arms and looked out of the window as the bus entered her neighborhood.

"Mack, I know you're not naive. You put up walls, to protect yourself from being hurt, because someone hurt you before and it stung, so you threw everyone out to keep it from happening again." She looked into his eyes and saw that he held much more knowledge than she thought, and right now, that was about to push Mack over the edge.

"You know nothing of my pain. I'd suggest you choose your next words very carefully." she said slowly, keeping her voice low and even.

Niko glanced out of the window. "This is our stop." He said plainly before standing up and walking down the aisle towards the door. Mack hurried after him. She caught up to him as the bus turned and left the street, leaving them alone.

"Look, I'm sorry." Mack said. "You're right, I'm sensitive about that. I built walls because I don't like getting hurt. And, I'll be doing my homework if you maybe wanna come over. I could use some help with the geometry worksheets." she confessed.

Niko smiled a little, his gaze soft. "Sure, why not?" He followed her up her driveway towards the house.

"This is my dad's house, the dogs are outside in the backyard. We can study at the table." Niko looked outside through the large windows and saw five beagles in the yard, running around, chasing each other.

"Wow, that's a lot of dogs." he said, amazed.

"Yeah, it compensates for the lack at my mother's house." she said, her sight becoming distant for a moment before walking to the table on her left and pulling out her geometry homework.

They worked on their homework for about ten minutes before her stepmom walked through the back door. She came into the kitchen and saw Niko and Mack sitting together at the table, working out geometry equations.

"Hi." she said.

"Niko, this is my stepmom, Ms. Connie. Ms. Connie, this is Niko. He's in my IBCA and Art class and is our neighbor." Mack explained calmly.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Niko held out his hand and she shook it happily.

"Are you staying for dinner?" She asked.

"No ma'am, I just came over to help her with her homework." he said politely. She smiled kindly.

"Oh, well, I'll just leave you to it." she said before walking across the living room into the master bedroom she shared with Mack's father.

Mack laughed a little and the two went back to reviewing their geometry homework. They studied for another thirty minutes before Mack noticed the sun starting to set.

"It's getting late." Niko voiced her thoughts. "I should go, my... parents, will start to worry if I don't." Mack unmistakably noticed his hesitation to say 'parents'. There was definitely something going on.

She helped him gather his papers and walked him out. "So, this was kind of fun." she said shyly.

He smiled. "Yeah, it was." Just him smiling and making eye contact with her made her shudder internally.

"Yeah, well, umm, tomorrow I was wondering if you'd want to go to the football game with me?" she offered casually as they walked up his driveway.

He looked back at her with a little bit of shock, but nodded. "Yeah, sounds fun. I actually have some other friends going too. I'll ask if they can give us a ride and let you know."

"Umm, I don't have your number." she said, blushing. He took a small piece of paper out of his bag and wrote the standard 10 digits on it before handing to her.

"Feel free to call. See you tomorrow." she nodded as he walked inside and she walked back home, a little skip in her step. As she walked back up her driveway, she noticed her dad's truck in the driveway.

She walked in and saw him lying in his recliner with one of the dogs, Clancy, lying on the armrest while Bailey, laid in his lap. Zac laid on the gray dog bed next to the recliner, Dezi was in Dylan, her step brother's, room, and Abby was lying down on the floor in the kitchen while Ms. Connie cooked dinner.

When she closed the front door, her dad looked up. "How was you study session?" he asked calmly, seeming to be genuinely interested.

"Umm, good. We just helped each other with our geometry homework." she said calmly. He nodded and she got her backpack from the kitchen before heading to her room and closing the door behind her.

She set her backpack in the corner of the room and pulled out her phone. She texted the number he'd given and he responded quickly. ' _So, my friends are going to pick us up around 5:30. Meet me then outside."_

The next day was an even day. She attended her Environmental Science, English 1, World Geography, and Art classes. In art class she drew and colored a griffin sporting a griffs shirt and holding a football and passed it to Niko. He smiled and sent a text. ' _I see someone's getting ready for tonight.'_ She smiled as she imagined watching her home team dominate another high school later as she sat and cheered them on with Niko and the rest of the school.

The bell rang and she walked with Niko to the bus. Telling him how funny it would be if she brought Clancy in a griffin costume to the game.

"It would be awesome." She said as they got on the bus.

He laughed again. "We would get in so much trouble."

"Yeah." she laughed a little more as they sat in the last seat, their bags in the seat next to them.

"So, what do you do at a game?" she asked, a little confused.

"First game?" he asked.

"Yeah." she responded shyly. "My brother went to some, but I never went with him."

"They have a concessions. We can grab something to eat and watch the game from the stands. The band does a performance at half time. And then we can either watch the last half of the game or hang out with the band near the baseball field." He explained.

They got off the bus and walked up their driveways. "See you later." he called before going into his house. Mack went inside, the dogs greeting her at the door and Ms. Connie sitting at the table doing her homework for her online college classes.

"Hey, I'm going outside for a bit." She said as she closed the door.

"Okay, just be back before dinner." Mack smiled and rushed to her room, dropped her bag and changed into jeans and her loose shirt. Within minutes, she was walking outside. She walked across her backyard to the fence that stood between her and the forest that lay beyond the neighborhood.

She climbed over the fence and leaped off the other side with the audible crunch of leaves beneath her shoes. She carefully stepped through the wooded undergrowth until she came to a small clearing surrounded by a thick circle of trees. One tree had a large branch that curved and hung low, the last foot of the branch rested on the ground.

 _It must've been here a long time to grow this long_ , she thought as she crawled under the curve of the branch. She stood and looked around. It looked like a little clearing. The large oak to the west across the fifteen foot area, a sandy area in the middle. The area was surrounded by a thin layer of thorn and bramble bushes, the large branch covering half the circumference of the clearing. The oak trees branches extended above her head, covering the clearing like a dome.

 _It's perfect._ She thought.

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 **Haha, cliffhanger! Don't worry, there's more coming soon. Mack has big plans for the future, but what happens when her life takes a turn, whether it's for better or worse. Hope you liked it. Please send in requests if you have any ideas for some future events or if you just have an opinion or suggestion. Thank you to everyone who got this far by the way. :)**


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